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Kenya's US envoy Njeru Githae questions Raila's rigging claim

Thursday August 17 2017

Kenya's ambassador to the US Robinson Njeru Githae who has challenged opposition leader Raila Odinga's claim that he would have been declared the winner of the August 8 presidential election had the results not been hacked. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

Mr Githae pointed to “the fact that Jubilee had an absolute majority in MPs, governors, senators, MCAs and even women reps.”

He asked the think-tank panellists if they were suggesting that President Kenyatta also rigged the results of those other offices.

Jubilee and Nasa, he further noted, had their own agents in polling stations around the country.

Kenya's ambassador to the US Robinson Njeru Githae has challenged opposition leader Raila Odinga's claim that he would have been declared the winner of the August 8 presidential election had the results not been hacked.

Ambassador Githae took issue with the computer hacking assertion during the public comment period at a Washington think-tank forum focused on the Kenya election results.

The envoy wondered how Mr Odinga's claim of rigging could be reconciled with the outcomes of the August 8 voting for positions below the presidential one.

Mr Githae pointed to “the fact that the Jubilee Party had an absolute majority in members of Parliament, governors, senators, MCAs and even women reps.”

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He asked the think-tank panellists if they were suggesting that President Kenyatta also rigged the results of those other offices.

But while Mr Githae claimed that "not a single member of Parliament, governor, senator, MCA who has disputed those results”, several losers in the elections have disputed the results and vowed to go to court.

In Embu, for example, outgoing Senator Lenny Kivuti, who vied for governorship on Maendeleo Chap Chap ticket, has disputed the win by his rival, Jubilee's Martin Wambora and has taken the case to the High Court.

GITHAE'S REMARKS

Mr Githae directed his remarks to two Voice of America journalists — Vincent Makori and Mwamoyo Hamza — who had covered the election.

Mr Makori, host of Voice of America's Africa 54 programme, and Mr Hamza, chief of the US-funded network's Swahili service, were taking part in the session at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies along with Mark Bellamy, a former US ambassador to Kenya who was moderating the event.

ELECTION OBSERVERS

He said election observers said that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) conducted free and fair elections

Jubilee and Nasa, he further noted, had their own agents in polling stations around the country.

Mr Githae said that none of these 40,000 agents have claimed that the results they recorded at the polling places were different from those announced by the IEBC.

NASA UNHAPPY

However, Nasa leaders have criticised the observers for giving the election a clean bill of health despite concerns raised by the opposition.

The opposition's deputy chief agent James Orengo said the observers were a great disappointment following their remarks regarding the polls.

In response to Mr Gitahae's comments, Mr Makori said that neither he nor Mr Hamza “as journalists, have made any judgment on the claim of rigging”.